five times massachusetts has voted to send me to the united states senate. yesterday only three decades after the people of massachusetts first voted me in to the office, the people i work with in the senate voted me out of it. [laughter] as always, i accept the senate's sound judgment. eight years ago, i admit i had a very different plan, slightly different, anyway, to leave the senate, 61 million americans voted they wanted me to stay here with you. [laughter] and so staying here, i learned about humility, and i learned that sometimes the greatest lesson in life comes not from victory but from dusting yourself off after defeat, starting over when you get knocked down. i was reminded throughout the journey that something that is often said but not always fully appreciated, all of us senators are only as good as our staff. the staff that gives up their late nights and weekends, postpones vacations, doesn't get home in time to tuck children in to bed. and all of those lost moments because they're here helping us serving us. they are not elected, they didn't g